1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid droplet-jetting apparatus which jets liquid droplets from nozzles, and a method for producing the liquid droplet-jetting apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Liquid droplet-jetting apparatuses are known, which jet liquid droplets from nozzles by applying the pressure to the liquid contained in pressure chambers communicated with the plurality of nozzles by means of the piezoelectric actuator. Some of the liquid droplet-jetting apparatuses as described above adjust the jetting characteristic of the liquid droplets to be jetted from the nozzles by changing, for each of the nozzles, the structure of the channel communicated with the nozzle. For example, in the case of an ink-jetting apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 8-281948 (FIG. 5), the structure of the channel communicated with the nozzle is changed by changing the position of the manifold channel communicated with the corresponding ink chamber for each of the nozzles.
For example, the following situation sometimes arises in relation to an ink-jet head (liquid droplet-jetting apparatus) which has nozzles for jetting black ink droplets and nozzles for jetting color ink droplets. That is, it is required that the jetting characteristic of the liquid droplets should be changed for each of the nozzles provided for the different types of liquid droplets to be jetted. For example, when the monochrome printing (black and white printing) is performed, the printing is performed at a high speed by jetting large volumes of black ink droplets, while when the color printing is performed, the high image quality printing is performed by jetting small volumes of color ink droplets. In such a situation, the jetting characteristic of liquid droplets can be also changed for each of the nozzles provided for the different types of liquid droplets to be jetted, by changing the structure of the channel. For example, as shown in FIG. 22, it is possible to make a volume of a black ink droplet greater than that of a color ink droplet by making the size of a pressure chamber for black ink 500a greater than that of a pressure chamber for color ink 500b. However, the channels, which are communicated with the nozzles, have the structures which are different between the respective nozzles having the different jetting characteristics. Therefore, the structures of the channels are consequently complicated. On the other hand, other than the change of the structure of the channel, it is also conceived that the voltage, which is applied to drive the corresponding piezoelectric actuator, is changed for each of the nozzles having the different jetting characteristics. However, in this case, the circuit for applying the voltage has the complicated configuration, for example, such that a plurality of power sources are required.